PROMESA and Imposition of a Fiscal Control Board

This academic article studies the indeterminate position of Puerto Rico as a “free associated state,” which is affirmed by a series of recent judicial rulings and by the fiscal crises. According to the author, this liminal position can give way to “colonial agnosia,” where the legacies of colonial slavery are ignored, or it can be faced with an epistemic refusal, where new forms of knowing are sought. The author explores how Puerto Ricans, including the diaspora, practice “disidentification”—that is, a negotiation where they do not reject their contradictory status, but maintain the contradiction while attempting to invest it with a new meaning.

This article provides a brief overview of the proposed solutions the Puerto Rican government, the U.S. government, and the people of Puerto Rico have imagined for the Island’s debt crisis. For instance, García Padilla’s administration’s declared an Emergency Moratorium and Financial Rehabilitation Law in order to prevent the government from using funds for essential services. Nonetheless, the Centennial Group International, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank suggest that Puerto Rico lay off teachers, shut down public schools, reduce the University of Puerto Rico’s budget, increase taxes, etc. The author explains how Puerto Ricans are fighting neo-liberal austerity as the solution to the economic crisis with activism, collaboration, and grassroots efforts to jumpstart the local economy.

Written shortly before the U.S. presidential election, this news article states that Trump’s bigotry has diverted attention from other important issues Latinas/os face, such as the imposition of the Fiscal Oversight Board in Puerto Rico. This article provides a description of the people that compose the Board, as well as a discussion of Puerto Rican’s reaction to it—both resistance and wary acceptance. The author condemns the Board as an undemocratic and neoliberal project that is doomed to fail the Puerto Rican people, while protecting and enriching the municipal bond market.

This news article discusses the debate and predictions about who would form part of the Fiscal Oversight Board, which was ultimately decided by the President and Congress. It mentions various candidates who formed part of one of the three following categories: “most likely candidates,” “least likely candidates,” and “unlikely candidates.” The author briefly describes their careers and ties.

This article goes through different sections of the PROMESA bill, which gives a Fiscal Oversight Board power over the Puerto Rican government and its decisions. The author provides a close reading of different passages. There are contradictions in the bill that show a clear path towards the imposition of austerity measures, which will further impoverish the island.

It was announced that the annual salary of the appointed executive director of the Fiscal Oversight Board would be $625,000 paid by tax payer money. The author of this editorial, a former governor of Puerto Rico, column explains how this amount and its source are abnormal for various reasons: a country that is in the midst of a debt crisis should not be the payee and this salary is inordinately larger than the salary of other high ranking officials of the U.S. government. According to the author, this unjustifiable decision is one of many that foreshadow the Fiscal Control Board’s incompetence.

This news article discusses the exorbitant a $625,000 salary of the appointed executive director of the Fiscal Control Board, Natalie Jaresko, in addition to other compensations she would receive. The author compares this salary and benefits to those of the manager of the Detroit fiscal emergency board, Kevin Orr. However, in the case of Puerto Rico, due to the fact that the Control Board is not under the jurisdiction of any of the three branches of the government of the Island, there is little the government can do to challenge this injustice.